Coach Loren LeBeau pleads not guilty to the hit and run death of 7 year old Donovan Maldonado, must go to AA 4 times a week on bail

On July 25, 2012 Donovan Maldonado was fatally killed in a hit and run accident on the Sugar Pine Trail while crossing Shepherd Avenue in Fresno, California. Central High School Coach Loren LeBeau has been arrested for the hit and run incident and has pleaded not guilty and is out on bail. With the enormity of the incident understood, LeBeau as part of his bail must wear an ankle monitoring device for alcohol and attend 4 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings a week. This leads to some very interesting questions that will most likely be answered with circular logic by the members of the AA faith who enable the court system with their "correction committees" and active recruitment from jails and prisons.

1. Some AA members claim AA is not a "treatment" for Alcoholism. Why is Loren LeBeau being mandated then?
2. Some AA members claim that AA is a "treatment for Alcoholism. Loren LeBeau has not been identified as an Alcoholic, why is he being sent to AA then?
3. AA tries to get a confession from the people mandated and they have no legal confidentiality policy protecting the confession. In reality isn't the judge sentencing Loren LeBeau to 4 hours of interrogation by overzealous AA members without legal representation?

Loren LeBeau pleads not guilty in fatal Fresno crash

By John Ellis - The Fresno Bee
Thursday, Aug. 16, 2012 | 09:49 AM

Central High School coach Loren LeBeau pleaded not guilty today to vehicular manslaughter, hit and run and other charges in the northeast Fresno crash that killed 7-year-old Donovan Maldonado.

LeBeau didn't speak during the short hearing before Fresno County Superior Court Judge Gregory Fain. The plea was entered by his attorney, Jeff Hammerschmidt.

The charges to which LeBeau pled were different than the initial charges he faced, which Fresno police Chief Jerry Dyer earlier this week said could lead to as many as 26 years in prison.

Hammerschmidt said the new allegations mean the maximum prison sentence LeBeau could face is "considerably under 20" years.

Gone, Hammerschmidt said, is the allegation that LeBeau used his car as a weapon. Also, the charge of hit-and-run causing great bodily injury initially included not only Donovan, but his father and sister as well. The latter two are no longer part of the hit-and-run charge.

LeBeau is charged with vehicular manslaughter, hit and run and driving while intoxicated in connection with the July 25 crash that killed Donovan and badly injured his father and 18-month-old sister as they bicycled across Shepherd Avenue on the Sugar Pine Trail.

Fain set LeBeau's next hearing for Sept. 20. At that point, Fain said he hopes to set a preliminary hearing date.

The hearing is a month out because investigators are still gathering evidence in the case, prosecutor Dennis Verzosa said.

"This is a very serious matter," he said. "We need time for the investigation to continue and take place."

As one of the conditions for LeBeau being released on bail from jail, he is wearing an ankle monitor that spots alcohol intake. LeBeau is supposed to be alcohol-free and attend four Alcoholics Anonymous meetings each week.

Hammerschmidt gave Fain reports from the ankle monitor showing LeBeau was alcohol-free. Fain said he wants such reports at each of LeBeau's court hearings.

The reporter can be reached at (559) 441-6320, jellis@fresnobee.com or on Twitter @johnellis24

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